Mumbai: Activists save six male calves left to die by tabela owner

Timely intervention by social activists from Borivali helped save the life of six male buffaloes of seven- all 10 to 15 days old who were tied up and left to die inside the boundary of Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) near Thakur village, Kandivali on Sunday. One of the calf succumbed in the evening.

As per Borivali activist and member of River March team Tejas Shah, he along with River March founder Gopal Jhaveri and Vikram Chogle, BJP leader were having a meeting on Sunday afternoon about river related issues when a person known to Chogle tipped them about few abandoned buffaloes calves inside SGNP boundary near Chatrabhuj Narsee School playground.

"We all rushed to the spot and were stunned to see a calf stuck in mud struggling to breathe as he was tied up and crows were pecking him. Even as we managed to rescue it soon we spotted six more calves in vicinity who were rescued. All of these were male and it was obvious that they were left to die as they were of no use to the tabela owner," said Shah adding that soon forest department and police were alerted Chogle said that it was shocking that the owner of a nearby Tabela who was operating inside the forest area had abandoned the calves in broad daylight so that they either die on their or are killed by leopards in the forest. "Since the case violated the forest act the forest department registered the case and we requested the forest department to seize not only the calves but also four female buffaloes who had given birth to these calves including one which was just a day old," said Chogle adding that the SGNP vet even medically examined the calves and treated them.

Dr Shailesh Pethe, Vet Officer, SGNP said that since he was informed about the condition of the calves he treated them on humanitarian grounds. "One calf was critical and had high temperature and other complications and died despite all efforts. Others are stable and have been given the required treatment," he said.

As per sources in forest department the calves and the buffaloes have been kept in SGNP and will be handed over to BMC cattle pound on Monday while case will be filed against the tabela owner.